Night&Day

November's in the rear view mirror and we're zooming full speed ahead through the holiday tunnel. For college students, this time of year traditionally means high stress, what with finals bearing down. For professors, it means stacks and stacks of papers to read. Well, professors Zack Bowen and Donald Spivey say balls to that. These two UM cornerstones chose to end their super-popular "The Sixties" course with a bang. Keeping in tone with the rest of the semester, which brought students the diversity of that definitive decade through the recollections of university professors and administrators who lived through it, the last class brings faculty and staff musicians together in an interdisciplinary jam of folk, jazz, R&B, and rock. After the students are admitted, all remaining seats are free to the public this evening at 6:30 at the Cosford Cinema, second floor Memorial Building, off Campo Sano Ave., Coral Gables. Call 305-284-2182. (PEGY)

FRI 3

Bowling is the Rodney Dangerfield of sports. Despite the airtime it is given on ESPN, the game doesn't get a whole lot of respect. If the thought evokes images of John Goodman's crazed character in The Big Lebowski, or even worse, Woody Harrelson's embittered, armless ex-champ in Kingpin, roll on over to Strike Miami, where the pins glow in the dark and there's a DJ spinning hip-hop and Latin hits while you get your bowl on. If you work up an appetite or feel like a cocktail, sit right down at the top of your lane -- it's also a banquette with full waitress service and bar. Make bowling an experience at Strike Miami, level two, Dolphin Mall, 11401 NW Twelfth St. Shoe rental costs $3. Before 5:00 p.m., your game costs $19.95 for an hour of bowling. After 5:00, it costs $24.95. Call 305-594-0200 or visit www.strikemiami.com. (PEGY)

Upcoming Events

You open the doors, stare into the emptiness, and sigh. You have nothing to wear. It's too cool for tank tops, yet not quite sweater weather, so what the hell do you wear? Winter's a few weeks away, but Nicole Miller's 2004 Miller Girl Fall CollectionFashion Show is sashaying down the runway tonight at Oxygen (2911 Grand Ave.). Recently featured on America's Next Top Model, the Miller Girl line features casual and comfortable clothes for chicks who like to party, but don't want to look like sluts. Miller described the need to expand beyond her "occasion weighted" collection in Women's Wear Daily and "do clothes that were ... trendier." Expect to see yards of soft, fluid fabrics in muted blues and browns that will appear more muted after the free martinis. Drinks start shaking at 9:00 and the girls are set to strut at 11:30. Call 305-476-0202. (LO)

SUN 5

It is a refuge for the homeless and an information warehouse for researchers, but for Rem Koolhaas, the recently completed Seattle Public Library is an architectural masterpiece of glass and steel. A world-renowned Dutch architect, who founded the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) with contemporaries Elia and Zoe Zenghelis and Madelon Vriesendorp in 1975, Koolhaas has worked on urban projects in Asia, such as the New Seoul International Airport City and the Hyperbuilding in Bangkok, and was also engaged in the completion of the Whitney Museum in New York, two Guggenheim Museums in Las Vegas, and the Prada Epicenter in Beverly Hills. Koolhaas, a Harvard professor since 1995 and the first Netherlands native to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, will speak about recent projects and the relationship between architecture, urbanism, and contemporary culture this afternoon at 2:00 at the Lincoln Theatre, 555 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach. Tickets cost $15-$25. Call 305-535-2680. (LO)

MON 6

When you don't have children, your pets are your kids, and you want to show them off to your family and friends. They're smart, funny, give you unconditional love, and they are so darn cute. Just look at those furry (or scaly or feathered) faces. They should be models. And now they can strike a pose with the jolly holiday fat man tonight, and each Monday night through the holidays, at The Falls' (S. Dixie Highway and SW 136th Street) Pet Photos with Santa event at center court. All friendly pets -- bunnies, birds, dogs, and cats -- and their owners are invited to sit on Santa's lap. No biters, please. And that goes for the pets, too. Slick down those unruly whiskers and brush that fur before hopping, flying, or scurrying over to The Falls between 6:00 and 9:00. Photo package prices range from $10.99 to $29.99. Call 305-255-4570 or visit www.shopthefalls.com. (LO)

TUE 7

In the rockabilly vein of the Reverend Horton Heat, Blue Rags, and the Red Elvises, Deke Dickerson and the Ecco-Fonics can raise the roof and get the crowd jumping. But Dickerson draws more than rockabilly licks from his double neck guitar. He's influenced by surf, country, and blues. "Someone told me that because I'm a Gemini, I'd never be satisfied with just one kind of music," confesses Dickerson on his Website (www.dekedickerson.com). And his fans wouldn't be satisfied, either. Dickerson's last album, Deke Dickerson in Three Dimensions, presents a trilogy of discs labeled "Rock 'n' Roll," "Rockabilly," and "Hillbilly" that showcase his depth and inspiration and will add zip to your next road trip. Get out the pomade, slick your hair into the finest pompadour, and roll up your sleeves for a foot-stomping celebration starting at 9:00 tonight at the Poor House, 110 SW Third Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Tickets cost $15. Call 954-522-5145. (LO)

WED 8

Life in the working world's fast lane is like being inside a giant hamster wheel. The week becomes a relentless cycle: work-work-work until you're physically drained for five, sometimes six, days, then spend the weekend in a bleary-eyed stupor, wondering what happened to all of your "me" time. Maybe it's time to make a change. If life inside the wheel is grinding your spirit into a fine powder, come to Mateja Petje's Balanced Living discussion today. She's a Reiki practitioner who is certified in clinical hypnosis. Besides working on her soon-to-be-published tome, My Journey to Self-Discovery, Petjie has developed the "Triglav Approach," a holistic strategy to soothe your mind, body, and spirit, get you away from the daily challenges that wear you down, and start you on your spiritual journey. Get enlightened tonight at 7:30 at the 32 Paths Spiritual Bookstore, 3444 Main Hwy. Call 305-461-2341. (PEGY)